Western Heights Water Company, OR
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1.76 ppb (monitoring period 2021-2023). The federal action level is 15 ppb today and drops to 10 ppb in Nov 2027; EPA's health goal is 0. Lead was measured in sampled homes but the 90th percentile is under both action levels. EPA's health goal for lead is zero, so test your own tap if your home was built before 1986 or anyone in it is pregnant or a young child.
Who runs the water here
Western Heights Water Company serves about 90 people through 43 service connections, which makes it a very small system under EPA's size classes. It is privately owned and draws groundwater, in Baker County, Oregon. EPA system ID: OR4101358; phone on file: 541-523-6471. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Lead results over time
That is up 1.76 ppb from 0 ppb in the period ending 2020. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Western Heights Water Company is 1.76 ppb across 3 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 1.76 ppb |
| 2020 | 0 (not detected) |
| 2017 | 0 (not detected) |
Where this result ranks
Of the 909 Oregon systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1 ppb; 15 are over 15 ppb right now and 71 have gone over at some point. Western Heights Water Company's 1.76 ppb sits at the 64th percentile in Oregon and the 67th nationally (higher means more lead).
Nearby utilities
8 other systems share Baker County; 2 of them have a higher latest lead result than Western Heights Water Company. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Baker City | 10,349 | 0 (not detected) |
| Huntington, City Of | 510 | 0 (not detected) |
| Haines, City Of | 395 | 1.37 ppb |
| Halfway, City Of | 346 | 0 (not detected) |
| Sumpter, City Of | 208 | 1.98 ppb |
| Richland, City Of | 165 | 2.64 ppb |
| Idaho Power-Oxbow Village | 75 | 0 (not detected) |
| Unity, City Of | 40 | 0 (not detected) |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Baker City, OR may offer free or low-cost kits through the utility. If your own line is lead, replacing the private side runs about $1,200-$12,300 (EPA average about $4,700). Ask Western Heights Water Company whether it covers that cost before hiring anyone - many utilities now do.
These figures describe homes the utility sampled, not your tap. Only your service line record or a test of your own water answers the question for your house. The lead result guide covers how utilities pick the homes they sample. Systems that went over once often dip back under; here is what that means.